Where to even begin right now…
One of my favorite verses: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28
I am 4 days away from leaving for training camp and officially meeting everyone!! Though I am sooooo excited, I must say that I am stressed to the max! There is so much to do I am feeling overwhelmed with right now. But all of this is making it that much sweeter to indulge in The Word everyday.
In this blog, however, I want to recognize all of the people who have been obedient to The Lord’s calling in their life. This could mean someone who is a World Racer, it could mean someone who intentionally brings Christ into their workplace, or a mother who stays home with her kids so they grow up learning about Him and knowing the sacrifice he made for us.
Side note: God calls us in all different ways to live a life for him. Just because I am going on mission for 11 months does not mean that I am in some sort of elite Christian allstar group, I am just doing what He has told me to do and it doesn’t make it any better than the volunteer greeters at my church every weekend who are welcoming first time guests who just need to feel comfortable in a new setting. I should never think that how I have been called is any more important than how someone else has been called.
I have been looking at the story of Jonah the past few days from a sermon series my pastor did a few years ago. God called Jonah to go to Ninevah and teach about Him. If you know this story, you know that Jonah said “Nope, I’m good, thanks for asking God, I’m just going to run from you now”. And Jonah had good reason. Ninevah was a very large city at the time and the Ninevites were known for their brutality, after they would conquer a city they would skin people alive and hang the skins out in public (and that’s just the start of it). On top of that, their most common enemy was Israel. I know if I were in that same situation I would have done the exact same thing that Jonah did! Run! He didn’t understand that the creator of the universe, the one who created the Ninevites, could tame their swords, so he ran.
He hopped on a ship that was ready to set sail and left. God brought a storm on the sea and the only way the men saw for the storm to stop so they wouldn’t sink was to throw Jonah overboard, as soon as he’s thrown overboard the storm ceases. So Jonah is swimming there in the calm sea thinking that was it… and then a fish comes and swallows him…
A lot of times when I hear about Jonah and the whale now days all I can think about is a picture I was shown in Sunday school growing up of a cartoon man kneeling ‘inside the belly of a whale’ by candlelight, praying… For some reason I don’t think it happened exactly that way.
If you read the story closely you’ll see how stubborn Jonah actually was. He wasn’t in the belly of the fish praying for the three days straight, he was in the belly of the fish being stubborn for three days until he decided to pray, surrender and be obedient to The Lord.
How many of us have been in that same place? Running from God through our stubbornness until he completely breaks us so the only thing we have to hold onto is His grace and mercy. I know I’ve been there.
I am so honored to know so many people who have been obedient to His calling in their life, and mostly, right now, I am so honored to be part of my World Race family all of whom have answered The Lord’s call in their lives in this specific way. I love all of you and can’t wait to see you on Saturday!!
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